Encaustic Sculpture

ENCAUSTIC SCULPTURE

At one time it would have been difficult to find many artists sculpting with wax. Now, along with encaustic, encaustic/wax with paper and photography, and the expanding number of artists working in encaustic/wax and mixed media, artists typically classified as sculptors are also using wax in the creation of their sculpted artworks. In addition to traditional sculptors who are sculpting with wax, there are artists who previously had not done any sculpting, but are currently creating sculptures using encaustic/wax art techniques.

Wax has a long and varied history in terms of sculpture. Wax can be modeled, carved, or cast and can be used for a variety of art objects. The wax sculptures of today are often created by encaustic/ wax artists who apply wax to their sculptured pieces such as wood.

Wax has been used in sculptures with clay, wood, steel, solid poured materials, molded materials, fused glass, and even weavings. For example, an artist might start working in wood, making carved wood bowls. Later, as the artist learned the encaustic/wax medium, the artist began to apply encaustic/wax techniques to their wood artworks.

On this page is a sampling of MoEA‘s permanent collection of artists sculpting with a diversity of materials such as wood, clay, steel, porcelain, wire mesh, weavings, even solid cast pieces, all of which are fused in and contain wax.